Stiffener for collars



April 1937 c. FREDER lC K 2,076,196

5 T IFFENER FOR COLLARS Filed Sept. 25, 1954 A TTORNEYS Patented Apr. 6, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STIFFENER FOR COLLARS Charles Frederick, Columbiana, Ohio Application September 25, 1934, Serial No. 745,472

2 Claims. (01. 2-132) My invention relates to collar stiffeners and more particularly to devices adapted to be associated with collars of the soft type, or those laundered without starch or a minimum of starch. A principal object of the invention is to form and stiffen collars of this type.

Collar stiffening and forming devices have been heretofore proposed in large numbers and have assumed a wide variety of forms and shapes. So far as I am aware however no one of these prior devices is adapted to be successfully used with collars of a style and form different from the particular style and form of collar for which the device was designed. In other words, every collar stiffener prior to my present invention was of predetermined and fixed form and dimensions and was therefore incapable of being used with collars of different styles and particularly incapable of being used with collars of different heights. An object of the present invention is to provide a device cap-able of correctly and neatly forming and stiffening a wide range of collars regardless of their particular heights.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device adapted to form and stifien a soft or substantially soft collar whether it be formed of a plurality of plies of fabric or of a single ply, provided the edges of the collar be formed with hems or the like adapted to receive the inconspicuous and extremely light device which is the subject of the invention.

Further objects are to provide a collar stiffening and forming device which may be readily manufactured at a minimum of cost and will be durable and invisible in use.

Other and further objects of the invention will be more apparent as the description hereinafter proceeds.

In the accompanying drawing which forms part of this application for Letters Patent,

Figure l is an elevational View of a suggested form of one of the two separate elements which constitute an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of a preferred form I of cooperating element;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the inside of the front portion of a collar showing the stiffener elements in operative position;

Fig. 4 is a similar view of another type of collar showing another manner of using the stiffener; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are fragmentary views of a collar showing the manner of inserting the stiffening device shown in Fig. 4.

The invention comprises a novel type of stiffening and forming element which may be used alone, or in combination with another similar element, or in combination with another and different type of element. The novel element is best shown in Fig. 2, and comprises a length-of relatively resilient material, such as spring wire, bent on itself at substantially its mid-portion to provide a relatively blunt pointed end I. From the end I the material of the element extends in two substantially parallel portions to constitute a comparatively straight body portion 2. Each free end of the material is curled tightly on itself or otherwise formed, as shown at 3 and d, to eliminate the objectionable sharp points in which the material would otherwise terminate. The end of the element opposite the blunt pointed end I is shouldered, as shown at 5', preferably by bending one of the free ends slightly downwardly and laterally. Beyond this shoulder the free end is extended slightly as shown at t in substantial parallelism to the length of the body 2 of the element, and the other free end, as shown at l, is bent around the first end portion at a side of the shoulder and secured thereto, terminating a slight distance from the shoulder, preferably in substantially the line of the body portion 2.

It is to be understood that the specific form of the element shown in Fig. 2 and hereinabove described in detail, as well as the particular material of which I have described it as made, are given only for the purpose of specifying a preferred embodiment of the invention. The device may be made in specifically different forms and of other materials. It is essential to the invention only that the device be shouldered at one end and be provided at its other end with a blunt point or the equivalent thereof adapted to penetrate a perforation in the collar material as will be hereinafter described in detail. The body portion 2, described as substantially straight in the particular embodiment shown in Fig. 2, may be curved if the edge of the collar with which it is to be associated be curved. The extended tip end 6 serves two functions: it defines the shoulder 5, and it constitutes a portion by which the element may be gripped by the fingers in the act of applying it to the collar or removing it therefrom.

The element shown in Fig. 2, which will hereinafter be designated generally by the reference numeral 8, may be used in conjunction with a wide variety of stifiening devices, including that shown in Fig. 1 and designated generally 9, or it may be used alone, or two of the devices 8 may be used together. Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate these several uses. In Fig. 3 the element 9 is shown applied to the front edge of a collar Ill. The element comprises essentially a length of relatively resilient material having two end portions I I and 5 I2 which are angularly related, either by a pointed junction I3, if the stiifener is to be used with a pointed collar, or by acurved connecting portion (not shown) if the collar be of the curved front style. The stiffener 9 is applied to the collar in any appropriate way. I have discovered that if the stiffener 9 be pointed as shown at I3 in Fig. 1, a small perforation I4 may be provided in the inside ply of the collar in the extreme point thereof. The free ends of the stiffener 9 may be successively inserted through the perforation I4 and respectively passed backwardly and upwardly between the plies of the collar and along its edges until the whole stiffener 9, including the point I 3, is received between the plies. The point I3 may thereupon be moved downwardly into the point I5 of the collar below the perforation I l, and the stiffener 9 is securely applied to the collar.

Because collars are provided in a considerable variety of heights, and because each individual wearer frequently possesses collars of various heights, no single stiffener 9 or its equivalent can be accommodated to all such collars. The portion I I may be made in a single length which can be successfully used with any collar, but the portion I 2, which stiffens and forms the front edge of the collar, will fit only collars made in the height for which the stiffener was designed. By the present invention I propose to make the l) portion I2 of the stiffener 9 or its equivalent short enough to be used with the very lowest style of collar. When it is desired to stiffen a higher collar the stiffener 9 is applied in the usual way, and the front edge of the collar above the zone which the portion I2 is capable of stiffening is formed and stiffened by the element 8. It is only necessary, when the element 8 is to be used for this purpose, to perforate the interior ply of the collar along the front edge thereof at the highest point at which the stiffening and forming effect is desired, as at I9 in Fig. 3. The end I of element 8 is inserted through perforation I6 and the whole element passed downwardly between the plies of the collar, a portion of the element lap- O ping the end I2 of stiffener 9 to supplement and increase the front edge stiffening and forming function of portion I2. Shoulder 5 of element 8 is passed through perforation I6 and the tip ends 6 and 'l overlie the perforation, extending out- 5 wardly therefrom and lying against the interior ply of the collar material. As shown in Fig. 3

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the end 6 is readily grasped by the fingers when it is desired to remove stiffener 8 from the collar.

It will be apparent that perforation I6 may be provided at any point along the front edge of the collar, according to the preference of the user, and that stiffener 8 may thus be associated with stiffener 9 or its equivalent so that the two may cooperate to provide any length of stiffened and formed collar front within the whole range of heights in which collars may be made.

If the collar be of the single ply type, having hems along its edges, or even if it be of the plural ply type, having seams along its edges providing the equivalent of hems, the element 9 may be dispensed with and two elements 8 may be used to stiffen each side of the collar front, as shown in Fig. 4. In this case a perforation I6 is provided as explained in connection with Fig. 3, and a similar perforation I! is formed along the hem or its equivalent at the lower edge of the collar. An element 8 is then inserted through each of the perforations I6 and H, as explained in connection with the description of Fig. 3, and as shown in detail by Figs. 5 and 6.

The invention is capable of embodiment in forms and of materials other than those hereinabove explained for purposes of exemplification, and all such modified forms, to the extent that they embody the principles of the invention as pointed out by the appended claims, are to be deemed within the scope and purview thereof.

I claim:

1. A stiffener for collars comprising a relatively resilient element formed to include two portions the end parts of which are angularly related, one portion being adapted to form and stiffen the front edge of a collar and the other portion being adapted to form and stiffen the lower edge of the collar, in combination with a separate relatively resilient element having a hook at one end adapted to be engaged with a perforation in the collar material to dispose the body of said element in the collar in substantial prolongation of the line of the first named portion of the first element and in overlapping relation therewith.

2. A device for forming and stiffening a collar comprising a length of relatively resilient material doubled upon itself to provide two substantially parallel portions comprising a substantially straight element having a relatively blunt point at one end, the free ends of the portions being bent to one side and secured together, forming a pair of oppositely extending tip ends and an adjacent shoulder.

CHARLES FREDERICK. 

